It’s appropriate that one of Joey’s current favorite books is Groovy Joe’s Dance Party Countdown since he shares a name with the main character. Groovy Joe loves music, and in this story, he’s forever being interrupted by knocks on his door with additional dogs who want to rock with him. By the end of the story there are eight dogs in the room and less space for Joe, but does Joe get upset? “Goodness no!” [Read more…]
Funny and Silly
“How many dogs are there now?” I read aloud to Joey, as we worked our way through one of our current favorite books, Groovy Joe by Eric Litwin. (There were 8 dogs on the page.) “9… Funny” Joey replied on his AAC eye gaze device and then turned to show me his huge grin. I had to pause for a moment because I did not even realize that the word funny had been added to Joey’s AAC device. He took the opportunity of my pause to add “silly” just in case I hadn’t understood his meaning behind funny. Yes, 9 is silly because there are 8 dogs, not 9, and he KNOWS he’s clicking on the wrong answer. Maybe he’s tired of me asking him to count dogs on the page, or maybe he’s not exactly sure where number 8 is, but he knows it’s not 9 and he’s making a joke out of it. [Read more…]
The Importance of Modeling
I was thrilled when my Journal of Early Intervention arrived this week with a study on the impact of sustained adult modeling of Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) with students with complex communication needs (CCN). I’m always excited to see AAC studies show up in special education journals. As the number of children are given access to AAC increases more studies are looking at how children develop language skills with AAC, and what are the best methods for teaching students with AAC. The more we know, the better we’ll be able to teach, so I quickly flipped open the study and read to see if it could help me in my work with Joey. [Read more…]
The Power of Being Able to Choose Your Words
When I returned from my month away, Joey had all sorts of new words added to his device. At first I was surprised to see so many new words had been added in such a short period of time, but as I watched him maneuver around his screen I was excited by his growth. He seemed to quickly understand that these new words gave him a greater capacity to communicate with us. [Read more…]
Fire Engines A Lot
I held up two books and ask Joey which one he wanted to read. He said “fire engine” with his eye gaze device, and then looked at Curious George and the Fire Fighters that was hiding behind my chair and NOT one of the choices I offered. OK. Here’s the thing. When Joey and I read Curious George and the Fire Fighters we never actually get through the whole book. Sometimes I have a compulsion to finish a book, and so this pattern drives me a bit crazy. So I don’t always offer Curious George and the Fire Fighters as an option. “Fire engine” Joey said again. [Read more…]
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